Detectives this week said they remained optimistic of catching the killer of Watton schoolgirl Johanna Young after a second man arrested in connection with her death was released without charge.

The 14-year-old disappeared from her family home on December 23, 1992. Three days later she was found dead, face down in a water pit.

Her killer was never caught. But after detectives re-opened the cold case in December two men – one in his 30s and from the Thetford area and one man in his 40s and from the Watton area – were arrested as part of the inquiry.

The Thetford man was arrested after fresh information came to light after a renewed appeal by the parents of the teenager. He was released from bail and will have no further action taken against him.

Now the police’s interest in the second man, from Watton, has also come to an end. He has been released without charge.

But former senior detective and a case manager for the inquiry, Tony Deacon, said he was still confident Johanna’s killer will be found.

“People are still coming forward,” he said. “We have had an excellent response from the public, the best we have ever had from a cold case.

“We have been able to look at key individuals and that’s helping us to review the evidence around them.”

Johanna left her home in Merton Road in the town on December 23 at 7.30pm but did not return home that night.

Her parents Robert and Carol assumed she had stayed at her boyfriend’s because of the foggy and cold weather.

But when Johanna failed to turn up for her paper round at 7am, her parents reported their daughter missing.

When Johanna’s body was found in undergrowth near Griston Road, she was covered in scratches and was partially clothed.

A post-mortem examination showed she had died from drowning and a fractured skull.

Anyone who has any information for the police about the inquiry should call 101.